Operation Ginger Avenger

by Heather Rainier

  Jessica gasped. “My daughter? What could you possibly have to do with my daughter?”

  Brian raised a placating hand. “It’s not—I didn’t—”

  Troy cut him off. “What could she possibly need from a Dornan?”

  “I think the Dornan’s have done enough,” Tank said. “This was a bad idea, letting him in here.”

  Jessica frowned and then shook her head. “Let him finish what he was saying.”

  Dornan looked down at his boots, as if gathering his thoughts, and then nodded. “It’s definitely your right to throw me out. But please at least hear me out first.” When they waited, he continued, “There was no real rush to make contact before. But the reason I’ve been calling you the last few weeks is pretty urgent now and has made it necessary to come see you.”

  “Why do you say that?” Troy asked as he watched Jessica get mugs, creamer, sugar, and teaspoons out and line them up on the counter. She was listening hard, judging by the way she kept repositioning the cups and then put two of the spoons back and then checked the pot to see if it was done yet.

  “I visited Trevor once before he went up north to that maximum security prison. He said he wanted me to...finish the job. That I owed it to him to finish what he’d started. He blames you, ma’am, for him being locked up and what all happened to him while he was in prison. He...he wants me to...do away with you,” he said, lowering his voice to a whisper as he glanced at the little girl huddled up on the couch. He frowned before he added, “He said the little girl was ours. Not as good as having a boy, but still ours. One of us.”

  “She is not. She is mine, and she’s not going anywhere,” Jessica said, sloshing the coffee pot as she tried to pour and hissing as she grabbed a towel to blot up the spill.

  Dornan nodded in agreement. “You’re right, no doubt about it. I was just repeating what he said. That little girl’s the spitting image of you, and I agree she’s all yours. I have no wish to harm anyone. The world was safer for women the day Trevor was put behind bars. To him, women are vessels for making babies and not to be trusted for any other purpose besides caring for the home and serving their husbands. It’s how my father treated our mother, and Trevor bought into that ideology. I’m not like him, or my dad. I don’t want any harm to come to you or your daughter.”

  “Fine. You could’ve written all that down in a letter.”

  “I could, but that’s not all there is to it. See, Trevor is vengeful and hateful. Full of anger. He hates women, pretty much all women, just like my dad did. I know better. And he knows that about me, even though I’ve tried to hide it. He’s sent someone to...follow up with me.”

  “Follow up?” she murmured, carefully delivering mugs of coffee to the table before sitting down.

  “What does that mean?” Troy asked as he pushed a filled mug toward Dornan and then sipped from his own. Even with her feathers ruffled, Jessica made a great cup of coffee.

  Dornan nodded his thanks and then wrapped his hands around the steaming mug and sighed, closing his eyes or a second. He must’ve been standing in the rain long enough to be thoroughly chilled.

  “It’s someone he knew in prison. This guy showed up on my doorstep and told me that he owed Trevor a favor. And that if I couldn’t do what Trevor wanted done, he was to take matters into his own hands and see that the job was done once and for all. This guy doesn’t strike me as the type to go easy on someone because they’re defenseless or weak. Scared the you-know-what out of me if I’m being completely honest.”

  Tank got up and closed the kitchen window curtains, walked through to the living room, and then patted Bella’s head tenderly before closing the drapes over the front window. When he returned to the table, he stroked Jessica’s shoulder and said, “Don’t worry. She’s dozing.”

  Jessica gave Tank a grateful smile and then turned back to Dornan. “What did you tell him?”

  “I tried to stall. I told him that I knew what Trevor wanted done, but that it’s hard for me to get away from work. Work’s been busy, and I need the job. He said he understood and made it sound like he had other favors to do but said he’d be back. He showed up at my place yesterday. He had a picture of Bella on her playground at daycare and a picture of you coming out of your place of work. I called in sick to work this morning and headed out here.”

  Troy’s stomach took a dive. “He’s already been to Divine?”

  “The pictures were on his cell phone. I think so.”

  “What’s his name?” Jessica asked, her voice cracking as she rose from her chair, and Tank caught it before it skated across the floor. Troy caught her around the waist when it seemed like her knees were going to give out and helped her back into the seat. She gripped the edge of the table and stared at Dornan. “What is his name?”

  “I don’t know what his real name is, but he said his friends called him Four Bits.”

  “Oh God. Oh God.” Jessica said between gasps as she reached for her purse on the kitchen counter.

  “Jess, it’s okay. We’re going to keep you safe. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

  Her face was ashen as she rifled around in her bag and then found what she was looking for. Opening her hand, she revealed a coin lying in her palm.

  Tank lifted it, and Dornan gasped. “Son of a... Where did you get that?”

  “A patient. I thought he forgot it when he left my office. I was alone in my exam room with him. He said his friends called him Four Bits.”

  “How long ago?” Tank demanded as he rose from his chair and went to the kitchen window to check outside as Troy crept through the living room to the front door, re-checked the lock and then the windows. All was quiet and still.

  “Today.”

  Dornan was almost as pale as she was when he said, “Ma’am, if I was you, I’d move yourself and your daughter to the safest possible place you can, like right now. I saw him yesterday, and if he saw you today, he’s already got a plan in place. He told me yesterday that I had one week to get the job done. Obviously, I’m not doing what Trevor wants done. If you want to know the truth, I figured this would all blow over. Otherwise, I’d have been here a lot sooner. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I thought he’d done all the damage he could do, but I was wrong. I don’t want anything to happen to my niece, either.”

  “Gather up what you need for a few days, Jessica,” Tank said as he rinsed his coffee cup in the sink.

  “You really wanted to help me,” Jessica said, glancing at Dornan and then at Bella asleep on the couch. “You really didn’t want anything bad to happen to us?”

  Troy studied Dornan as he shook his head, the emphatic motion making the wet spikes of hair on his head wave around.

  “No, ma’am, I swear it. I couldn’t protect my mother from my father because I was too little, but I’m not going to watch another Dornan man do that to a woman again. Not while I’m still living and breathing.”

  Repeating the hasty pack-up and exodus that he remembered from a few years before, when Jessica had been staying at the family cabin in a remote part of the ranch, Troy helped her gather her things and Bella’s while Tank spoke quietly with Dornan. The last time they’d done this, she’d been nearly full term in her pregnancy and needed to be closer to the hospital in Divine. This time he was tempted to take her right back out there, but there was strength in numbers nearer the main ranch dwellings.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Here, let me help,” Brian said, taking the heavy bag from her shoulder as Jessica tried to heft it, as well as carrying Bella. She didn’t have to prove anything to him—he already knew she was strong. She had to be.

  Once they’d gotten her loaded up for the short drive over to their place, the men who were guarding her had tried to take the toddler from her, to help them get inside their house, but she held tight to her little girl and shook her head. He didn’t blame her. She was a bit upset. So the men had just clustered close to her, obviously blocking her from harm with their own bodies. It was
good that they were willing to take a blow or a bullet for her. He had a feeling with someone like Four Bits it could definitely come to that.

  “Why are you helping me?” she asked as she finally relinquished the bag.

  He could see the nerves and fear in her gaze every time she set eyes on him. He figured the resemblance he bore to Trevor was giving her the willies. He didn’t blame her for the distrust she felt. What had happened to her had been worse than awful.

  “I figured the best way I could help things was to carry something for you.”

  “Explain to me why you didn’t stop him, once you knew what he planned to do to me, what he tried to do to Grace and Charity. Convince me you’re sincere now by explaining to me.”

  “Back when he took you, before it...all came out...I was trying to break away from him, away from his influence and my dad’s. I’d kinda cut him off for my own mental health. He told me he had a woman, and I figured he meant that he’d found a girlfriend who could understand him, someone who was willing.”

  “I remember you saying that at the trial.” He couldn’t fault her for the disbelief reflected in the set of her jaw and her frown.

  “I didn’t cut him out of my life entirely. I just wanted a fresh start in a new place. I didn’t want to be involved on a daily basis with him and all the stuff he believed in. If I’d come to visit him like he wanted me to... I know you have no reason to believe me, but if I’d known what he meant about having a woman was that he had one chained up in my dad’s old place, holding her captive, I would’ve done something about it. I regret it. I do.”

  He followed the men into the living room, impressed immediately by the widescreen television that was hanging on the wall. That was really something. Like being in a sports bar.

  Bella clung to her mother’s shirt front. Her little eyes, brown just like her mother’s, were heavy-lidded, and she watched him as she nestled into her mother’s neck. He couldn’t really remember doing that with his mom when he was little, but he’d always known she loved him. His father hadn’t approved of his boys being coddled, but she’d managed to let him know in other ways.

  The invisible touch of his mother’s gentle hand on his neck reminded him that she was near, and his resolve to help Jessica and Bella grew even stronger.

  See, son? That’s how a mother’s love should be. You don’t know how many times I wanted to cuddle you and wasn’t allowed to. These girls are worth whatever you go through for them.

  Jessica swayed where she stood with Bella still in her arms. “It does count for something that you came here to warn me, although I wish you’d knocked on my door.”

  “Maybe next time, check in at the front and drive in?” Tank muttered and then lifted an eyebrow, a hint of amusement in his eyes. “We’d have talked to you and let you in without all the chaos if you’d done that.”

  “We’d have gotten to the bottom of everything without scaring the crap out of our girls,” said Troy, the one who’d popped him one outside her house. The guy had a concrete block for a right fist. Troy’s knuckles were red, but he ignored them, as if they weren’t even sore. Brian’s jaw sure throbbed, though.

  “No argument from me on that point, sir. But I did try to get in touch with Jessica several times over the phone. I’m just relieved you’re willing to listen to me.”

  A moment later, Troy handed him a zipped up bag of crushed ice while he and Tank debated with Jessica about putting Bella to bed in one of the bedrooms. She wanted to tuck her into a nest on the couch, unwilling to let her out of her sight until she went to bed, as well.

  “Okay, let me get her some blankets and we’ll make her a cozy princess bed. You’d like that wouldn’t you, Belly Button?” Tank asked as he caressed the sleepy little girl’s cheek with a fingertip. The look in his eyes said he was more than just a guard to the womenfolk.

  Her tiny nose crinkled up as she yawned widely and nodded. “Do me up a princess-y bed, Tankie? She’s spuhzarkely,” she added, pointing her little finger at the space just over Brian’s right shoulder.

  Mama.

  No harm, son. I can’t hardly help it. I want to hold her so bad.

  Wait until she dreams, like you used to do with me. I don’t want to freak them out.

  Her reply was a light touch to the side of his head.

  Jessica caressed the little one’s head and kissed her temple. “Someone is really sleepy. She’s slurring her words and seeing things.”

  Tank placed a call to their sheriff, who offered to come immediately to talk with him. These men took the security of their place, and Jessica and Bella’s safety, seriously, and he respected the fact. He’d worried for a minute that things were going to go haywire at that point and that he’d wind up paying a visit to their lock-up with his wrists in cuffs. After all, he had trespassed and peeked in a bedroom window, but Tank spoke at length with the sheriff and then hung up, saying that he’d come by first thing in the morning.

  Jessica turned to him and said, “Can you stay in the area, at least for tonight?”

  “I was going to rent a room at one of the hotels out near the interstate if it got too late in the evening.”

  Both men shook their heads, and Tank, who was named appropriately, said, “We can put you up at the guest cabin next to the ranch house. It’ll be more convenient for us, and it will save you a few bucks.”

  It was considerate of the man to say the last bit because it would help him, but he didn’t expect it and wanted to make sure they knew that. “I can pay my own way.”

  “No, they’re right. And it’s probably safer for you, as well. Four Bits may already know you’re here,” Jessica added softly. A shiver ran through her, and he felt awful about her being scared.

  Left unsaid was that it gave them a chance to keep an eye on him and there would be less risk of him disappearing during the night, before the sheriff could speak to him. He didn’t blame them for still having suspicions. He’d feel the same if the boot was on the other foot.

  For all he knew, Four Bits had followed him all the way to Divine and knew what he was up to. If it was necessary, he could disappear. It’d be inconvenient because he liked his boss and he’d put a lot of work into the little place he’d bought, but the sacrifice to make sure that no harm came to the little one or to Jessica, the rightness of doing that, far outweighed the trouble.

  We have to stay close to them, son. What Trevor meant for evil, we’re going to make good.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Here you go,” Troy said as he shoved the shirts and jeans hanging in the closet to one side. “You can use this space. And I’ll clear a drawer in my bathroom for you to use.”

  There was a part of her that thrilled at the idea he would so willingly make room for her, even temporarily. Eventually she’d return to her own home, and this seemed such a big step to take, but she appreciated the gesture.

  Tank had escorted Brian Dornan to the guest cabin and planned to stay the night, keeping an eye on things—and him—at least for the evening. After Hank had a chance to talk with Dornan, then they’d see about what to do next. Once they’d left, she’d put Bella to bed in Tank’s room and left a nightlight on and the door open just in case she woke during the night and didn’t know where she was.

  Jessica appreciated the fact that he’d taken off from what sounded like a comfortable living situation, putting his job at risk, in order to warn her that Four Bits might be in the area and planned to pay her an unwelcome visit of the permanent consequences kind.

  The funny thing was that, although she’d met Four Bits and knew she had every reason to be afraid of him, now that the shock had worn off, she wasn’t afraid. For the girl who had allowed fear to rule so much of her adult life, it was a startling realization. She wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t exactly numb, either. She was resolute. Sure she could do whatever she had to in order to protect her little girl. Across the hall, she could hear Bella, her nonsensical words slurring as she talked to herself in bed about
something being so pretty and “spuhzarkely,” whatever that was.

  “You don’t have to give up space in your closet. I can leave my stuff in my suitcase and use the guest bath in the hallway.”

  “Yeah, but it’s only a half-bath, and you’ll have the use of my tub this way.” He cracked a grin when she peeked in his tidy bathroom and saw the giant tub in the corner, next to the separate shower. “It’s a doozy, isn’t it? Back when Chance and Clayton’s grandparents were still alive, this was the house that their kids built for them. This was the master suite. I want you to make use of it.”

  “But it’s your space.”

  Troy leaned against the bathroom doorjamb and crossed his arms over his big chest. “I don’t mind sharing with you.”

  “But Bella—”

  “Bella can have Tank’s bedroom. He already told you that.”

  “I feel awful about commandeering his space.”

  “He doesn’t mind, believe me.” Strong hands closed over her stiff shoulders, kneading gently. His body heat attracted her like a magnet as he came up behind her, and his breath tickled her neck when he chuckled at Bella’s continuing jabber. “She’ll be just across the hall, Mama. You’ll hear her if she wakes up. You’ll sleep in here.”

  “And you?”

  “I’ll sleep with you. You’re going to love my comfy bed. We can spoon, and I’ll keep your back warm.”

  “And Tank?”

  “He’ll keep your front warm.”

  Heat billowed within her as she imagined them just like that, with her in the middle. Maybe she’d have fewer nightmares of suffering in the cold and dark with no way to get warm. Then she remembered. “Troy, my nightmares. They’re...”

  “I may have a remedy for them,” he said, placing a kiss on her shoulder. A shudder rippled down her spine as she turned to him. She surprised herself again when the fear of being towered over didn’t strike her. Instead, she leaned in to him.